Alongside the cuts the Tories are planning mass privatisation. Part of the reason for the cuts in public sector workers pay, conditions and pensions is to make buying up public services a more attractive ‘business proposition’ for the privatisation sharks.
The NHS – the biggest single reform won by the working class in the 20th century – would be denationalised. Under New Labour parts of the NHS were handed over to private companies.
The result of cleaning services being privatised is a halving of the number of hospital cleaners and the resulting spread of superbugs. The Tories proposals, however, will mean private bids must be invited for core clinical services like bone and brain scans, physiotherapy, psychology and even surgical centres and local GP surgeries.
At the same time the cap will be lifted on the number of private patients that can be treated in NHS hospitals. The end result will be an NHS that provides only the most basic, emergency health-care with all other treatment available only for those who can afford to pay.
The government’s plans for a massive acceleration of the academies programme means that schools will be stolen from local control and handed to education profiteers to run as chains of privatised schools.
Education
Education minister, Michael Gove’s plans would create a chaotic system of competing schools. Of course that market would create ‘winners and losers’ – and it would be predominantly working-class and black pupils who are likely to lose out.
It would become a privatised, selective system against a background of spending cuts.
The education budget is suffering huge cuts. Further education colleges have already been told that their budgets are to be cut by £343 million.
Universities face the same future. Already more than a 150,000 A level graduates have been unable to enrol in a university due to the shortage of places.
For those who get there they are going to face closures of courses and maybe even whole universities. At the same time tuition fees have been increased to a maximum of £9,000 a year.
With over a million young people unemployed, and 69 graduates applying for every job, the next generation is having its future taken away. For working-class young people pain is all the government has to offer.
